50 
pliysallis alkekengi, or nicandria physaloides, are put into wa- 
ter, and allowed to remain, without an exchange of water, until 
decomposition is carried to the requisite extent, they may he 
freed from their cuticle, and the pulpy matter; and after ma- 
cerating them a short time in fresh clear water, they may be 
bleached by immersion in a diluted solution of chloride of lime, 
say one-sixth of the chloride to five-sixths of water. They must 
be well washed from this fluid when whitened sufficiently ; and 
quickly dried, either before a fire, or in the sun. Care must be 
taken not to allow the destructive process to be carried too far, 
or the fibrous structure will become injured ; nor allow the pre- 
parations to remain too long in the chloride, or injury w ill also 
arise. In selecting leaves for this purpose, those w ith the strong- 
est fibre should be preferred. Their fibrous parts, and also the 
seed vessels and calyces alluded to, should be cleared by a camel 
hair brush, or fine pen, from such portions of cuticle, or pulpy 
matter, as adhere too strongly to be removed by a small stream 
of water. The leaves of the ceratoria siliqua, ruscus aculeatus, 
and ilex, are, with the foregoing, the most easy to prepare. I 
have tried a variety of other methods, none, however, answer so 
well as the one I have explained, and therefore I communi- 
cate it, without fear of its being attended with difficulty, if pro- 
perly applied. Some of the specimens may require several 
months maceration before the preparation can be completed. 
89 OxALis Crenata. We gave but little attention to this plant 
last year; we had, however, a row of it planted late in the sea- 
son. In the first week of September, scarcely was there the ru- 
diment of a tuber to any of the plants. We took the whole of 
them up, and laid them in a broad shallow trench, spread their 
stems, and covered them, with earth, full two thirds of their 
length. In about six w eeks, on examining them, many of their 
stems were, literally, covered with small tubers. They were not 
taken up till Christmas, when the produce was abundant, al- 
though the tubers were, generally, small. This certainly indicates 
that some modification of such treatment should be employed 
soon after Midsummer, to induce productiveness at a season 
when the growth of the tubers may proceed uninterruptedly. 
Our object in removing the plants, in September, was to check 
their luxuriance, and thereby induce the produce of tubers. This 
succeeded fully. 
